Purdy: Good and bad from 49ers' 27-13 win over Dolphins

SAN FRANCISCO -- Early analysis of the good and bad from the 49ers' 27-13 victory over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday at Candlestick Park.

MARKUP -- Colin Kaepernick's performance at quarterback, especially in the first half when he was sacked three times, had its rugged moments. But when you looked at the halftime stat sheet, you noticed he had a 103.6 quarterback rating because he was 12-for-15 for 133 yards — and no interceptions. And he put a fine exclamation point on his day with that 50-yard touchdown sprint on the option-read play that's becoming his trademark. The kid remains a work in progress and 49er coach Jim Harbaugh is taking a risk with what amounts to on-the-job training in the hopes Kaepernick will be awesomely marvelous when the playoffs arrive. But as long as the 49ers keep winning, we probably shouldn't nitpick.

MARKDOWN — All right, I'll nitpick. As the weeks pass, it is fascinating to see how different Kaepernick is from the man he replaced, Alex Smith. In the pocket, Kaepernick seems to fixate on his downfield receivers a little too long and doesn't get to his checkdown man fast enough -- which creates sack opportunities for opponents. Smith, on the other hand, too often left his longball options too quickly and went to his checkdown man too soon. We're talking just fractions of a second here. It's a tough balance to find. And it's a tough gig, being a NFL quarterback. But Kaepernick needs to find that balance.

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MARKUP — Frank Gore is the most sincere runner in football. Period. He tried to make every carry his best carry and every down his best down. It's a pleasure to watch the man at work. It's fitting that he passed the 1,000 yard mark for the season on maybe his best run Sunday, a 9-yard second half gain in which Gore broke at least three tackles and used Pro Bowl footwork to avoid two other Dolphins.

MARKDOWN — Even so, the way that Miami's defenders were able to contain and frustrate the 49er offense for decent chunks of the afternoon was disturbing. It brought to mind a quote after last week's loss in St. Louis from the Rams' James Laurinaitis. Speaking about the play that resulted in Kaepernick taking a safety after an ill-advised pass, the St. Louis linebacker said: "We got a good 'pass-key' before the snap. I'm not telling you what it was, but I knew by a certain couple of (49er) players they were going to pass the ball." Watching the Dolphins snuff out some plays Sunday, I wondered if the 49ers had fixed that tipoff tendency.

MARKUP — Clap, clap, clap. Applause for the trick play call by 49er coach Jim Harbaugh in the third quarter which resulted in pitchback to Kaepernick and a deep fling to receiver Randy Moss. Is it just me, or did many more teams try much more flea-flickering 10 or 20 years ago?

MARKDOWN — The official who missed the pass interference penalty against Moss on the flea-flicker call. Things do move very fast in the NFL and it's easy to miss a hand-grab here. But it's also hard to believe that call was missed.

MARKUP — Aldon Smith, the 49er pass rusher, set a team record with his sack of Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill in the second quarter. That gave Smith 18 ½ sacks on the season. And it was accomplished in impressive fashion. When an offensive lineman knocks a defender flat, it's called "pancake" block. But on his record-setting play, Smith bull-rushed Miami rookie offensive tackle Jonathan Martin (from Stanford) and put Martin on his backside. So what do you call that? A "reverse flapjack?"

MARKDOWN — The 49er offense still needs to be more consistent. There were flashes of juice Sunday. But keep in mind that two of the Niners' scores were assisted by the Dolphins' terrible special teams play. A muffed punt return at the 9-yard line set up the first 49er touchdown. And a screwup by Miami punt return gunner Jon Freeny--by carelessly stepping on the goal line after he grabbed the ball inside the 5-yard line--turned what should have been a downed ball into a touchback. That gave the 49ers a first down at their own 20 instead of their own 2-yard line and they drove for a field goal.

MARKUP — LaMichael James made a definite impression in his first NFL game. The rookie from Oregon started slow, losing yardage on a few plays. But after calming down, James seemed to follow advice from Gore — who spoke about his tutoring role last week — by showing more patience and waiting for space to open. Doing so, he weaseled his way into gaps, then broke a few tackles on a 13-yard gain in the second half. He followed this up with a 15-yard gain a few plays later. With the injury to Kendall Hunter, the 49ers are going to need that kind of production from James into January.

MARKDOWN — Defending the pass can be a crapshoot, with the possibility of committing pass interference--or a ball dropping perfectly out of the sky and into the arms of a tight end (Anthony Fasano) making a great catch. That's what happened on a a fourth-quarter touchdown drive by the Dolphins. But with the talent up front on the 49er defense, stopping the run should be a given. And the key plays on that TD drive by Miami were a 20-yard scramble by Tannehill and a 17-yard run by Bush. Not acceptable.

MARKUP — Love the way that 49er safety Donte Whitner executes his tackles. Too many NFL players today subscribe to the hit-em-high-and-hard school of bringdowns without using any sort of wrapup technique — which often leads to runners breaking free or (even worse) a penalty flag for a blow to the helmet. Whitner has adjusted to the new rules and could give a clinic. His bringdown of Dolphin back Reggie Bush was a thing of beauty. Whitner didn't just wrap up Bush, he lifted him up and bodyslammed him.

MARKDOWN — For the second week in a row, 49er linebacker Navorro Bowman drew a personal foul that was not necessary. It occurred at a crucial moment, in the fourth quarter with Miami on a potential game-tying drive. Bowman was flagged for coming in too high and making helmet-to-helmet contact with Tannehill just after he released a pass. The play gave the Dolphins new life and four more downs — but thankfully, the 49er defense buckled down and held Miami on fourth down at the Niners' 35-yard line. Next week in New England, such a mistake could have more dire consquences. Mr. Bowman, please consult Mr. Whitner.